Especially in the case of revision surgical procedures wherein the pelvis has been severely compromised or deteriorated, it is known to use support structures to receive an acetabular prosthetic device.
One such structure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,490 to Wagner et al, entitled OUTER CUP FOR AN ARTIFICIAL HIP JOINT SOCKET. According to this patent, an artificial hip joint socket for fastening to a pelvic bone includes a metallic outer cup forming a concavity for receiving a hip, which terminates in an equatorial edge to which supporting flaps are fastened. The flaps include holes to receive bone screws and have preset lines of grooves to enabling preferential bending to provide conformance with the pelvic region surrounding the procedure. The problem with this particular configuration, and others like it, is that, even with the grooves affording preferential bending, the flaps are not sufficiently malleable or adjustable in multiple dimensions to permit conformance to surrounding bone in all situations.